Voucher System

[CaptUSA]

As school choice advocate, I'd like to give some personal insight into the failings of the school voucher system.

In Ohio, they've instituted a program called EdChoice http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Oth...arship-Program

The Educational Choice Scholarship (EdChoice) Program provides students from underperforming public schools the opportunity to attend participating private schools. The program also provides low income students who are entering kindergarten through fourth grade the same opportunity. The program provides up to 60,000 EdChoice scholarships to eligible students.

This sounds great, right?? Not so fast.

My son attends a private school that accepts EdChoice scholarships. I'm glad to report that I haven't noticed any strict strings attached that have altered the curriculum, which was certainly a fear. But what I have noticed, and it is clear as day, is that the families who get these "scholarships" do not value the education of their children the way those of us who are paying for it do.

Because of this, these parents do not devote the kind of time outside of school to educate on behavior issues or to reinforce the subject matter. At least not in the same way the rest of us do. The effect of this is that their kids slow down the learning of the class. The teacher spends an inordinate amount of time in correcting their behavior and even more time ensuring that these kids are not falling behind. So instead of learning new things every day, our children end up in the same rote repetition we sought to avoid. And WE'RE paying for it!

I love the curriculum and pedagogical approach of our school, but to increase enrollment, nearly 25% of the children are now on EdChoice. It put the entire school in a catch-22. If they stop accepting these kids, enrollment will drop so low that the tuition increases would be prohibitive. If they keep accepting these kids, it will further water down the benefits of this great school. This is just sad.

We've brought it up to the board, but they're in quite a bind and they can't find their way out. At least not as fast as we need them to. So, now we're considering sending him to another private school that has already learned their lesson with EdChoice and stopped accepting it. This school was lucky that they only had a few students and ending it didn't affect the school. I don't like the curriculum as much, but it's much cheaper and the parents care.

Great job, Ohio! You took school choice and demonstrated to the rest of the country how NOT to do it.

[brushfire]

I would have expected a little recoil - going from strictly government to private/government will likely take some adjustment for everyone.

What was the expectation, and is it time already to declare failure?

You're right though - to the majority of parents out there, school is just "daycare". A parent? Teach their children? That's what teachers or for. < socialist/communists, right here, in america.

[TheCount]

Government involvement in public schooling is only half of the problem with the educational system. Lack of parental interest and/or involvement is, imho, the other half. If the parents don't care, then who will provide the driving force toward improvement? The kids?

[CaptUSA]

I would have expected a little recoil - going from strictly government to private/government will likely take some adjustment for everyone.

What was the expectation, and is it time already to declare failure?

The expectation was that they would get kids out of failing schools and hopefully cause those schools to get better or watch their kids go elsewhere until the government school boards close 'em up. I don't think many of them understood, or even cared about, the unintended consequences.

And yes. It's time to declare it a failure. Here's the problem - and it's the problem with all programs like this:

If you don't pay for something directly, you don't value it the same way. If someone else is paying for your house, you don't maintain it the same way. If someone else is paying for your health care, you expect as much as you can get. And you don't take responsibility for your health in the same way you would if you were the only responsible for it. If you're not paying for your college degree, you don't care about it as much. It becomes just a piece of paper and the overall quality of the degree goes down.

If they really want to fix the system, they need to take alternative measures. They have to take government out of the equation and just let people pay directly for their education. Force parents to be invested in the education of their children. We can't allow people to abdicate this responsibility. As it is, instead of "fixing" government schools, they are hurting private schools. Just a shame.

[Demigod]

It used to be that a family of 2+ could live from a single paycheck. Where one would go to work at 7-7:30 and come back at 16 o`clock and have a good part of the day ahead . Where one would buy a thing or learn a thing and it would stay as it is for years if not decades. Today 2 parents can barely support 1+ kid, jobs are starting at 8-9 which means being home at 17:30 the earliest ,most likely 18 and from everywhere there is new and more and more information that is hard to keep up. People barely have enough time to rest their legs before the next working day, let alone parent to levels from a few decades ago. This is not a USA specific problem ,one just needs to look at the current turmoil in the world to see that the fabric of society is unraveling everywhere.

As for the voucher system ,get the government completely out of education and see segregation and indoctrination on a scale unseen. Can you even imagine what kind of an education kids will get in an school run by full SJW nutcases or those evangelical cults/islamists? The people getting out of those schools will have zero life skills except being future cannon fodder.

[brushfire]

The expectation was that they would get kids out of failing schools and hopefully cause those schools to get better or watch their kids go elsewhere until the government school boards close 'em up. I don't think many of them understood, or even cared about, the unintended consequences.

And yes. It's time to declare it a failure. Here's the problem - and it's the problem with all programs like this:

If you don't pay for something directly, you don't value it the same way. If someone else is paying for your house, you don't maintain it the same way. If someone else is paying for your health care, you expect as much as you can get. And you don't take responsibility for your health in the same way you would if you were the only responsible for it. If you're not paying for your college degree, you don't care about it as much. It becomes just a piece of paper and the overall quality of the degree goes down.

If they really want to fix the system, they need to take alternative measures. They have to take government out of the equation and just let people pay directly for their education. Force parents to be invested in the education of their children. We can't allow people to abdicate this responsibility. As it is, instead of "fixing" government schools, they are hurting private schools. Just a shame.

I think the only thing you can hope for then is home schooling. At least until this thing collapses. The voucher program is about the best transitional system I can think of - its the only government program that gets the unions out of the equation. "They" arent going to give up control without a fight. This is why we always see "charter schools" and "magnet schools" popping up as a solution. The teachers in my area earn upwards of 6 figures and have a lifetime pension to pay 1/2 their annual salary - for life. That's an expensive system, for sure. With the government having a near monopoly on k-12 today, there's not likely too much competition to choose from - at least not for a few years.

Taking a look at your situation, there seems to be confusion as to what a "voucher" is. I wouldnt consider the "EdChoice" a voucher system. Also, just as with other half baked BS, they constrain the program to only the so called "Charter schools"

Your child is eligible to apply for an EdChoice Scholarship if one of the bullet points below is true:

• Your child attends one of the schools on the list
• Your child is currently in the public school sector and is assigned to attend one of the schools on the list for the upcoming school year
• Your child attends a charter school but is assigned to attend a school on the list
• Your child is homeschooled, has not attended an Ohio school, and is assigned to attend a school on the list

A student must be eligible at both the time in which they apply and are awarded to receive a scholarship.
Note: Current private school students are not eligible to apply.

I would love to have a voucher program myself... I mean, considering what we have today... But I wouldnt consider the "EdChoice" a voucher program, really.

Best of luck with your fight